September 2010 Archives

Sep

Official Samsung Galaxy Tab Site Goes Live: Design, 360 View, Videos, Wallpapers, Specs, Accessories - It's All There

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung, Videos

The long awaited Samsung Galaxy Tab is now official. After finally getting revealed at the IFA 2010 conference just about an hour ago, all proverbial cats are finally out of their proverbial bags. While those members of the press who are actually present on location are playing with display units (unfortunately, that doesn't include us, this time), the rest of us can browse around the official Galaxy Tab site which Samsung launched following the announcement.

Site

The site is jam-packed full of well designed content - you will find:

an interactive Tab presentation,
a 360 degree model,
videos,
wallpapers,
specs,
and accessories.

Sep

We'll Be There - Samsung Throwing A Mobile Event Announcing Media Hub And The Latest Android Device On September 16th

Posted by Brett Gmoser in Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung

Yesterday, Samsung sent out invites for a media launch event happening in NYC on September 16th. 2 announcements are planned:

Official unveiling of Samsung's new Media Hub service and
Showing off the latest Android-powered device.

Android Police gratefully accepted the invitation and picked me to cover it, so expect a post-game report to float on the site sometime after the event concludes.

While we do not yet know for certain what this new "Android-powered device" will be, the invitation does include the "Galaxy S" brand logo. Speculation is abound that the device being announced will be the hotly anticipated Galaxy Tab, the 7" Android-powered tablet device.

Sep

Back To School With Android: The Budget Phones And Awesome Apps That Will Help You Get Through The Year

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Ally (Aloha), Applications, Aria (Liberty), AT&T, Backflip, Captivate, CHARM, Devour, Droid (Sholes), Hero (Sprint, HeroC), Intercept, Moment, myTouch Slide (Espresso), Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Vibrant

Last Updated: July 3rd, 2011

Phones

Not everyone needs a new phone at this time of year, especially as you probably got your last one some time around Christmas, but if you’re in the market for a decent Android phone on your college-sized budget, here’s the what you’re looking at if you’re one of the four major carriers:

Verizon

Motorola Droid - Affordable doesn’t necessarily have to mean cheap, and such is the case with the original Motorola Droid. While Verizon itself no longer carries the original, (it’s been dropped in favor of the Droid 2) it can be had for the price of $0.00 (or, at most, $0.01) at third-party retailers like WireFly, Amazon, and LetsTalk.com.

Sep

Motorola Milestone 2 Announced

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Droid 2, Froyo 2.2, Milestone, Motorola, News

It was only a matter of time, right? Just as with the original Droid, Motorola has been quick to create a GSM version of the Droid 2 for all of our non-American friends (hello, John Thompson) that appears to be identical to its Verizon-bound cousin.

That's right: the Motorola Milestone 2 has just been announced, along with Android 2.2 FroYo, an enhanced MotoBlur skin, a 5MP camera, 8GB of onboard storage as well as an 8GB microSD card, a 1GHz OMAP SOC processor, 512MB of RAM, and 720p HD video recording (one of the Droid 2's major omissions). Laptop users will also be happy to know that the Droid 2's Mobile Hotspot capability has not been removed and is still kicking around somewhere in the apps menu.

Sep

Motorola Unveils The Defy: Dust And Water-Resistance Included

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Motorola, News

Leave it to Motorola to come up with a bizarrely compelling new device that they can slip MotoBlur onto.

We’ve recently seen the Charm and Flipout with Android 2.1 and MotoBlur, and now the Defy is joining them. However, this is a touchscreen only device, and it has something else special: an IP67 water and dust resistance rating. That rating qualifies it as fully protected from dust, and immune to the effects of immersion between 15 cm and 1 m for up to 30 minutes.

Like the aforementioned Charm and Flipout, it also has the now-famous Gorilla Glass, making this one nicely durable package.

Sep

T-Mobile G2 Prices Leaked: $200 On Contract, $500 Off Contract

Posted by Brian O'Toole in G2 (Vision), News

It seems to be the trend nowadays that you know everything about a device before it even gets properly announced, and while it makes for plenty of blog-fodder, it sort of spoils the fun of waiting for new things to come out.

Anyhoo, TmoNews just got their hands on the pricing scheme for the upcoming G2, HTC’s eagerly anticipated landscape slider. Calling the pricing “Exactly what everyone expects it to be”, TmoNews posted a photo of an internal T-Mobile document, showing the G2 to be $499.99 off-contract, or $199.99 with (presumably) a new two-year agreement and a $50 MIR.

The prices match up exactly with that of the Samsung Vibrant, giving T-Mobile customers a difficult, but enviable choice at the top-end of GSM Android.

Sep

Sprint Launches 4G In Boston, MA; Daytona Beach, FL; Providence, RI

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

EVO 4G and now Epic 4G owners can celebrate the addition of 3 more metropolitan areas to Sprint's 4G family, as the company just announced that the following cities are lighting up with 4G, effective immediately:

Boston, MA
Daytona Beach, FL
Providence, RI

These latest additions bring Sprint’s 4G coverage grand total to over 50 urban hotspots. Still no official release of 4G we caught in the Bay Area but we're hoping for something soon, as the clock that will mark the promised end of the year timeline is ticking.

Users of the only 2 aforementioned devices capable of running on Sprint's 4G network are charged an extra $10 "premium data" fee, no matter whether 4G is available in their area or not.

Sep

Twitter Changes Login System, Catches HTC Off Guard (Despite An 8 Month Heads-Up)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, HTC, News

Well, this is somewhat entertaining (probably because I don't use Peep - those of you who do probably find it a lot less funny). Twitter flipped the switch on an application login change on Monday, and as a result users can't login to Twitter through HTC Peep. It's a bit difficult to understand without going into more detail, so without further ado, more detail.

Previously, applications could use one of two ways to login to Twitter: Basic Authentication and OAuth. The Twitter devs say it quite nicely, so I'll just do less work and quote them:

In order for Twitter applications to access your account, developers have been able to choose one of two authentication methods: Basic Authentication or OAuth.